Belgian Football Association's new national clearing house and intermediaries’ regulations

On 1 July 2020, the Belgian Football Association published a new edition of its national regulations on working with intermediaries (the Belgian Regulations).[1] The Belgian Regulations not only implement FIFA’s regulations on working with intermediaries,[2] but go (much) further than the current version of those regulations. Indeed, next to the licensing system already in force, the Belgian FA has now introduced its own ‘clearing house’, an institution designed to clear certain payments to football intermediaries, set up in light of the recent scandals and criminal investigations[3] into the dealings of football intermediaries in Belgium.  While the clearing house currently only relates to intermediaries payments (not transfer fees or solidarity payments etc),[4]  given FIFA’s ambition plans for introducing a more holistic international clearing house to increase transparency in football,[5] the Belgian project can be seen as a test case for FIFA’s future reform plans.

This Q&A gives an overview of some of the noteworthy aspects of the new Belgian Regulations and the operation of the clearing house.